Lucy Ward isn’t content with just being a Wag. The Middlesbrough make-up artist wants to help brides look perfect for their special day. She talks to Ruth Addicott about launching her business.

SWAROVSKI crystals on their toenails and a blow dry like Cheryl Cole’s are just some of the requests that brides are making in the North-East, according to make-up artist Lucy Ward.

While most footballers’ wives and girlfriends are obsessed with hair and make-up, Lucy – fiance of Middlesbrough player Andrew Davies – has gone one step further and created a business around it.

Since moving back home to the North-East with Andrew, who is currently on loan to Middlesbrough, Lucy has teamed up with her sister and launched hair and beauty venture La Belle Vous, offering professional styling for weddings, proms and other special events, and fashion shoots. She trained in hair and makeup in Manchester and her sister Sally is a qualified nail technician, taking care of the manicures as well as the books.

Lucy set up the business after finding it difficult to get a job that fitted in with her lifestyle. Every time Andrew was transferred to another club, they had to relocate, which made it difficult to get a career off the ground.

“I applied to join the police when we were in Southampton, but we were only there a year and we had to move again,” she says. “I’m a career-orientated person and had to think of a job I could do that fitted in with travelling around.”

Lucy has done 46 weddings in the past year while working independently in the North- West. She also has bookings at Wynyard Hall and Ramside Hall, in County Durham. Having specialised in stage make-up means she has expertise in using products that withstand the elements and last all day.

“I trained in HD (high definition) and as most people’s wedding photos are in HD these days, you need make-up that isn’t too thick and looks natural,” she says. According to Lucy, the most important tools are a good primer (which is applied before foundation) and setting powder to seal the make-up underneath.

“A good primer is essential,” she says. “I use a lot of Mac products and I really like Clarins Beauty Flash Balm. It’s good if you’ve got dry skin or want a dewy look.”

She has worked on all kinds of shoots, including a music video for former Stone Roses singer Ian Brown. One of the most unusual was a music video featuring a glamour model in Liverpool. “It was held at a secret location and I had to make the models look like robots,”

she recalls. “They had big hair, silver catsuits and we did full body airbrushing. We started at 6am and didn’t finish until 11 at night.”

She recently did an Alice in Wonderlandthemed wedding at Beamish Hall, complete with giant clocks, a Cheshire Cat and rabbits wearing stilettos.

While music and fashion shoots can be hard work, Lucy says that weddings are far more challenging. “It’s the biggest day of their life, so you have to get it right,” she says.

The most common request from brides, however, is false eyelashes and big hair.

“Brides are very specific about their hair, everyone wants it big like Cheryl Cole,” she says. “I’d say 80 per cent of brides I did last year had hair extensions – including clip on ones – because the hair doesn’t drop. I’ve also had brides asking for Swarovski crystals on their toenails.

“Some are very specific and want some of the bridesmaids to have a side bun on the right side of their head and others on the left, just so the congregation can see it from both sides when they’re walking down the aisle.”

Lucy says the biggest mistake women make when applying their own make-up is getting the colour of the foundation wrong. “People need to understand their skin better,” she says.

“Beauty counters try to sell you products and often you’re pushed into buying make-up which is expensive or isn’t right for your skin.”

To help women avoid such costly mistakes, she offers one-to-one consultations, suggesting products across a range of brands.

Aside from launching the business, Lucy is gearing up for her own wedding, at Wynyard Hall this spring. There will be fireworks and fire-throwers, plus footballers on the guest list, but she says it won’t be a stereotypical Wag wedding.

She met Andrew at the Hide bar, in Yarm, six years ago and they had only been together four months when he was transferred to Southampton. Lucy moved with him and they’ve been a couple ever since.

She says the lifestyle isn’t quite as glamorous as it looks. “It’s quite a lonely life being a Wag. You’re often on your own in a completely new place and it’s hard to meet people when you’re moving around. In six years, we’ve lived in Sheffield, Walsall, Southampton, Preston, Stoke and Middlesbrough.

People don’t see that side of it.

“I have come across girls who are gold-diggers, but most wives and girlfriends choose not to work because the players finish at 2pm and they prefer to stay home and look after their children.”

For now though, Lucy is focusing on her own career. “I love what I do now and I’m over the moon to be back in Middlesbrough,” she says. “I can set up my work full time, really go for it and, hopefully, make a real success of it.”

•For further information, visit labellevous.co.uk